When “Accountability” Means Disappearance
Masking sold as accountability
In the Daily Journal, Addie Angelov urges tighter accountability for autism therapy. But accountability here doesn’t mean safety, dignity or choice for autistic children. It means judging therapists by how well they enforce masking — how quickly children learn to disappear.
Care Inverted
That turns care inside out. Accountability should protect children from harm. Instead, it’s being used to measure how efficiently their differences are suppressed.
Erasure by Fidelity
Angelov contributes thoughtful commentary on education equity and mental health. Yet on ABA, her framing misses decades of autistic testimony and research on the costs of masking — burnout, trauma, loss of self.
Within this framing, ABA is described as a “powerful tool” when implemented with “fidelity.” Fidelity means strict adherence to behaviorist methods designed to erase autistic traits.
It presents autistic communication and movement as “symptoms” — something to be reduced rather than honored as part of who a child is.
Parents and providers are centered. Autistic children, the ones subjected to this “accountability,” are left voiceless.
Flip the Logic
If neurotypical children were in therapy, would “best practice” mean punishing them for showing their real selves? Would accountability mean mask harder, mask longer, mask until you vanish? Applied to anyone else, it reads as cruelty not care.
Coercion as Care
By treating fidelity to ABA as the gold standard, this logic makes compliance the definition of care. That doesn’t just miss the point — it legitimizes coercion. What disappears is not just autistic traits but autistic agency.
Ask Better Questions
- What if accountability meant joy, safety or self-expression rather than silence?
- What if fidelity meant fidelity to children’s autonomy, not to a method?
- What if early intervention measured whether autistic kids felt seen, not how well they could pass?
Closing
Calls for higher standards are welcome, but demanding more masking is a line that cannot be crossed. Accountability without dignity is just policing the same harm with a nicer badge. If we want to support autistic children, we must hold therapy accountable to them — not to the comfort of everyone else.